UT'S VARSITY 8+ TAKES THIRD AT SAN DIEGO CREW CLASSICLady Vols have strong showing against nation's elite in Jessop-Whitter Cup Grand Final

The Lady Vol varsity 8+ recorded a 3rd place finish today.

April 4, 2004

SAN DIEGO, Calif.

The Tennessee Lady Volunteer Varsity 8+ shell, ranked 14th in the USRowing/CRCA Varsity 8+ Coaches Poll, took home third place in the Grand Final of the Jessop-Whitter Cup, the top women's competition at the San Diego Crew Classic.

The third-place showing broke the six-race win streak for the Lady Vol V8+ crew of senior Erin Artz (cox.), senior Nicole Bold, sophomore Lauren Wells, junior Chelsea Pemberton, junior Kaitlin Bargreen, junior McKensie Craig, sophomore Dana Forbes, freshman Sarah Hutcheson, and junior Andrea Bagwell in the spring season. The race was the fifth time this spring UT's boat has finished in front of Notre Dame's top shell. The Lady Vols dominated the Fighting Irish in three races in Knoxville earlier this season and finished a second ahead of ND in yesterday's preliminary.

The course on San Diego's Mission Bay proved much tougher for the crews on Sunday than it did in the prelims on Saturday. Race times for each boat in the competition shot up by 20-30 seconds. California's winning time of 6:57.10 was almost 20 seconds slower than the second-place time they posted in the "B" preliminary one day earlier.

Today's performance came in Tennessee's third appearance in San Diego and its second in the Jessop-Whittier Cup, which is the regatta's toughest division.

After returning from San Diego, Tennessee will prepare for its next competition at the George Washington Invitational Crew Classic, April 10, on the Potomac River in Washington D.C.